Silk Road Tales: Oracle’s Memoirs

Take it for what you want in terms of truth and reliability, there are no guarentees here and we do not endorse / vouch or in anyway confirm or stand behind anything mentioned in this post – Its re posted here because its an interesting read and interesting description of the events, even if you consider this to be 100% fictional.

And back to the old Silk Road Drama’s again. When Oracle, a former silk road employee who was in charge of the “Psy Ops” posted a 2 months ago on the hub that she will be posting her memoirs from the silk road time revealing the inside story behind most if the known silk road stories:

Hello fellow Hubbers, Oracle (from SR2) here.

Shortly (within a couple days), I am going to be posting/publishing my “memoirs” so to speak regarding my activities on SR2.. some of the behind the scenes stuff that happened in November, December and in February that I was privy too. Some of it is going to make for some very, very interesting reading. Sure to ruffle some feathers as it won’t be sugarcoated or ‘spun’. Guess what? I don’t give a shit. Somethings the community should know.. and yes, even things I was apart of that weren’t so nice. I’m still trying to figure out the best format/and how detailed I want to be.

Two months passed and 10 pages of comments later, the thread became a joke (http://thehub7dnl5nmcz5.onion/index.php?topic=3072.0), nothing was published, until now – when something that seem to be one of the finals drafts of the memoirs was posted on silk road forums here (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=44744.0).

* If a full version will be posted at some point, the document will be updated. For now, if you have some spare time – Enjoy.

THE PARTY’S OVER

October 2 2013 was a sad day. The infamous Silk Road login screen was replaced with an FBI Seizure Notice. Some thought it was a joke, some thought it was a “runner” pulled by the Dread Pirate Roberts. Within hours the most feared rumours were confirmed, Silk Road (1.0) was dead. The operator, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested. I myself had been an online “friend” of the man we all knew as DPR. He shared many secrets with me and I got to know some of the inner workings of SR and DPR’s mindset. More on that later.

A few days later, a well known former British vendor (of Xanax and other goods) and prominent member of the Silk Road Forums, StExo, decided to don the mantle of Dread Pirate Roberts (as the in the Princess Bride, the moniker is passed down from one to the next). He assembled with some of the moderators of the original Silk Road, and decided that though the man was history, the dream wasn’t. StExo was also notorious for his love of money, having offered money laundering advice/services on SR1. In an but candid interview with Weirderweb, StExo himself claimed that “ambition has no rest”. That propelled the events and adventures of the following few months, which I stumbled right into.

StExo (who had also been an online friend of DPR and had performed some remarkable services for him) called an online meeting with the Libertas (former admin/moderator) aka GrahamGreene (a former bulk marijuana vendor based out of Ireland, later arrested and found to be a 30 year old named Gary Davis), SSBD (SameSameButDifferent, a former moderator who turned out to be an Australian man in his late 30s named Peter Phillip Nash), Cirrus (former two time moderator who was known on the forums as Scout, before being demoted by DPR1, then re-instated with another handle, only to be ordered by the ultra paranoid DPR to change handles again) and others to discuss the possibility of continuing Silk Road. Missing from this meeting was Inigo, the “first mate” to the Captn DPR’s, who had gone underground the day SR1 was hit. Inigo was later found to be a 20something in Virginia named Andrew Michael Jones.

StExo’s first order of business was actually to post a red herring on the the original Silk Road forums the day of the bust. The post was something to the affect of “To the original DPR, if you’re reading this, I don’t care what it takes or where you are, you know how to reach me, get in touch ASAP!”. This was seemingly to throw a wrench in law enforcement’s post-arrest monitoring of the forum. The intent was to make it seem as if there were more then one persons operating the DPR account, and potentially aid in Ross Ulbricht’s defense in some way. To create reasonable doubt that the feds had the wrong guy. StExo, being a polarizing member of the forums, did something seemingly admirable. Was it pretext to don the DPR mantle himself and perhaps give the impression that a pre-determined order of succession was already in play? Or was a good faith effort to help the inevitable legal battle of the embattled Ulrbricht? Perhaps a little both of both.

REFUGEES

In the immediate aftermath of the SR seizure, the community was in disaray. Where to congregrate? Were the forums also under LE control? Were it’s closure imminent? Was it disconnected from the SR server and hosted elsewhere? These questions ultimately led to Libertas reaching out to Backopy of BMR (BlackMarketReloaded) in asking for ‘asylum’ of sorts for SR refugees. Backopy was gracious enough to allow Silk Road mods to setup a Silk Road specific sub forum on the BMR forums as a place for everyone to regroup while the next course of action was charted out.

On October 7th 2013 the SilkRoad 2.0 forums were launched with a bang. A new “Dread Pirate Roberts” emerged from the shadows and the majority of SR1 mods added legitimacy to the new regime. A new moderator, Sarge, was also added to the mix. Speculation as to who the “new DPR” was ran rampant. Was it the “original DPR”? Was it an opportunistic moderator? Was it a well known member of the original forum community? DPR1 had given an interview to Forbes in the summer of 2013 in which he had dropped a nugget of (false) info that led credence to what many in the community (including Eileen Ornsby aka OzFreelancer, a prominent blogger/journalist who had been working on a Silk Road and had conducted several interviews with DPR1 over the course of the previous year) had assumed: there was a mysterious other DPR who was actually the original creator of Silk Road. It fit the myth of the fictional Princess Bride character from which the handle was taken. However, this wasn’t so. There was always only one DPR, and that revelation in Forbes was skillful disinformation. OzFreelancer herself had once remarked to me in a conversation that she was sure the DPR she had communicated with during the course of her book research had most likely changed at least once. This was a case of clever sylommetric maneuvering. DPR1 had felt the noose tightening around his neck due to various reasons, one being a visit from Homeland Security in July over an intercepted package of fake ID’s bearing his (Ross U’s) photo. It only made sense to have dropped the disinfo bomb.

The new Dread Pirate Roberts however, was in fact, StExo. This was confirmed to me by not only a moderator who was privy to the new setup, but by StExo himself during private conversations. StExo had been a colouful character on the original SR 1 scene. He had done some work for DPR1, including a site crawl/security audit of the original Silk Road site. He had offered money laundering advise as a service. Based in the UK, he had vended (through reshipment deals with at least 1 another well known vendor) Xanax and other wares. He was also a confidant of DPR1/Ross. In one particularly bizarre event, it was revealed by StExo to DPR1 that a Canadian professor who had previously assisted in law enforcement was working on a “trawl” of the entire SR site, harvesting every bit of data in hopes of archiving and potentially unmasking the servers and/or operator. This news, when brought to DPR1’s attention, allegedly resulted in the poor professors life being threatened! StExo and DPR1 spoke of possible scenarios, one of which involved putting a contract on the professors head! Very “Breaking Bad” -esque (which incidentally was a show StExo was a fan of). To my knowledge, the Canadian academic was never actually harmed, but was threatened to back off. Although several people did seek StExo’s money laundering consultation services, it is my understanding that DPR never did.

The other members of the SR2 setup were also colorful bunch.

Scout, once being the most well known (and liked) moderator of SR1 Forums had a history of running afoul of DPR1. Once, while being courted by an undercover federal agent on the forums/Tormail, he was admonished by DPR1 for compromising his security. It’s believed that DPR1 took over correspondence as Scout with the undercover in hopes to see what information they had and how he might be able to skew their profile of him. The bizarre deal offered by the undercover was for Scout to assisting setting up high profile vendors in exchange for a percentage of each bust (plus a get out of jail free card). Reportedly, Scout was locked out of his own forum/tormail account by an increasingly paranoid DPR1 and suspended for engaging with the undercover. A short while later, Scout was “re-instated” with a new moniker, only to be re-born as a new moderator. This was short lived, however, as Scout (who by then had donned a new nym) was informing his close forum acquaintances of his new handle. DPR1, who was monitoring Scout’s inbox, grew increasingly peeved by this behaviour (plus other infractions such as disgruntled complaints agains The Boss off-forum with other moderators, who promptly informed DPR1). This was the semi-final straw and Scout was fired. Kind of. Having a change of heart, he was re-instated yet again as a moderator, this time with the moniker “Cirrus” and strictly ordered to have no link to his past handles or carry on correspondence as Scout with anyone. Although Cirrus/Scout was never involved in any vending/buying off the SR site, it was known to DPR that Scout once ran an unofficial bitcoin exchange, which could potentially lead back to his real life identity if enough resources were directed in examining the block chain transactions.

SSBD (SameSameButDifferent) was another colourful character. Long thought to have been a US Citizen residing in Florida by some of the more quirky forum trolls/mischief makers, was actually a 41 year old Queensland resident who worked at the Brisbane Prison employee who worked with disabled inmates who enjoyed being thought of as a Yankee. It was the perfect cover. To be thought of as living on the other side of the world, SSBD was, in his own mind, immune to ever being found out. SSBD had a very loyal relationship with the Boss, who once remarked that “SSBD is the most loyal guy I have”. He was compensated in kind, as when he had informed DPR1 he would be needing some time off to plan for a wedding, DPR1 immediately gifted him several thousand dollars worth of BTC as a pre-wedding gift.

Libertas was the gestapo of SR forums. Also handling administrative duties on the main site, he was probably the most loathed on the forums. Often ribbed by members for being a teachers pet of sorts, he was an oddball amongst a generally lighthearted group. Initially thought to be either a female or gay (due to his asexual writing style), he was later revealed to be Gary Davis, a resident of Ireland. He had made a healthy sum vending weed under the moniker GrahamGreene, and had even offered advise regarding his own techniques of cashing out/laundering his BTC proceeds. He had setup a legitimate business account and was lax enough to use Mt Gox’s SEPA transfers to his business account. In addition to pot, GrahamGreene/Libertas had also established a very profitable business selling cases of liquor and cartons of cigarettes to local business owners that he acquired cheaper online (using the same business account that received the MtGox transfers) and bypassing tax surcharges. While his business history was known to DPR, he still made it to the top of the short list of 4-5 prominent forum members to take the coveted role of added moderator/support as Silk Roads site and forum grew in size. DPR however, ordered him to create a blank, from-scratch nym and thus was born Libertas. Libertas, or “Libby” as known on the forums, spend countless hours on the forums and main site handling support tickets, and was compensated the most out of the entire team in their weekly compensation. Him joining StExo and party to form the new SR 2.0 was seen as a key stamp of approval and added legitmacy. While other heirs to the Silk Road throne tried to emerge (Project Black Flag headed by a character named Metta DPR), Libertas’s seal of approval gave SR2.0 forums the public approval.

StExo, while maintaining his original handle, first “denounced” his association with SR2 (to distance himself from his real intention) but then ‘vouched’ for the new SR2.0 Forums and publicly stated he had advised and helped rally the troops, but said he declined and offer to join the team. As seen by a post you all may remember:

Unfortunately some members of the forum, who most of us have never heard of, are now planning their own “SilkRoad 2.0” and I feel to prevent problems later down the line I will state exactly why it is a bad idea and how you are endangering yourself by joining there.

1 – The users behind it are clueless

Having watched the threads about it, it is obvious to me and anyone who knows what they are talking about that these people are trying to throw buzz words out but don’t actually understand anything that they plan to do. They promise security, they promise functionality, yet they don’t understand DPR had phenomenal security on his part and SilkRoad was only found as he used a connection between his real identity and SilkRoad one at he very start, but his ongoing security was very good. The concept of making it more secure is nonsense, they couldn’t even explain the former SilkRoad infrastructure if they tried or how to for example stop a DDOS on hidden services.

This might not seem an issue to people but let us think about it – freehom hosting. If LE get hold of a server, they can put exploits in to attack and identify users. The first assault they done on hidden services with the hit on Freedom Hosting was a test of our strengths and the next will be a test of our weaknesses, and I do not want a bunch of fools running any server I visit because although I consider myself one of the most secure users around here with many layers of isolation making even a tailored attack difficult, I know the NSA if they really wanted could still rip off my covers because they have an army of workers and billions in funding – a bunch of nobodies making a marketplace almost overnight is not going to last. If hackers get it, everyone loses their coins and are completely exposed to whatever the hacker wants to do with their information and if Anonymous manage to get it, they will almost certainly make their “Findings” public information so it won’t just be LE you’d have to worry about, but anyone else who seems you as fair game including every other government in the world.

2 – They are taking the idea of another and attempting to ride its reputation

DPR made SilkRoad, it was a new era of selling drugs online. Taking the name of SilkRoad, although it had its flaws, and then trying to create something out of it is just disrespectful to the idea that SilkRoad has now brought to the masses of a free marketplace. If you can truly create a much improved marketplace, you do not need to take SilkRoads name to do it, all you will be doing is attempting to hijack the attention of SilkRoad.

3 – I will never trust a marketplace run by a methamphetamine drug addict

The instability of somebody who is absolutely dependent on something likeThe instability of somebody who is absolutely dependent on something like methamphetamine should be enough to scare anyone off. And yes, I’ve seen the messages you’ve sent to various staff and your little threats against DPR to “expose” him a while ago, don’t think I am ignorant or that I am an isolated entity, I talk to many other well known members and staff and your pathetic antics are well known, so I feel this is good to publish here so others can be wary of just how pathetic it all really is.

I could go on further, but if the above doesn’t convince you why it is a bad idea, I feel I would be wasting my time debating this with you.

With Libertas, Cirrus, and now StExo vouching for SR2.0 forums, this was the official re-launch of Silk Road. A migration from BMR forums to the SR 2.0 forums started, and soon most of the familiar faces and community members arrived. Curiously absent from the new setup was StExo himself.
While a new moderator, Sarge was added to the group, many suspected him of being either StExo or famed forum security guru Astor, but such wasn’t the case. DPR 2.0 was StExo.

My interaction with the new regime started almost immediately, from when I PM’d the new DPR. Why me? Well, I had offered the same sort of “friendship” (non illegal services) to DPR2/Stexo that I had to DPR1. Almost from day one of the new forum we struck up an understanding that we would continue the same sort of “friendship” I had with DPR1/Ross. (I am calling it friendship as a CYA/OPSEC for my own identity). (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=233.msg2452#msg2452)

My initial warnings to DPR1 were that he might be vulnerable if Ross ever made a deal with the feds. Why would this be a problem? Ross was known to keep “doxx”(personal info) on people he dealt with on his computer. During my interactions with Ross U, he had mentioned to me that he had the doxx of StExo, which had been confirmed by another source who worked with DPR. Possibly from the contract site audit, possibly from other business dealings. My fear (and that of another moderator) were that if Ross rolled over, the entire new ship would go down. I genuinely felt this wouldn’t bode well for the new setup. Initially when I had expressed this to DPR2 privately (whom btw had acknowledged that he was StExo), he said it should not be a problem. However, at one point, after narrating the Canadian Professor incident, he had indicated, “Breaking Bad” style, that if Ross/DPR1 were to ever utter anything about him or his organization, he’d put out a hit on him in prison and assured me the bounty would be so high that Ross wouldn’t be able to look into the mirror without wanting to off himself just to collect! [Paraphrased]

In my initial background interactions with Scout/Cirrus, he expressed some reservations as well, but alas, one must pay the bills as they say, so he confirmed that StExo knew what he was doing.

WE RISE AGAIN

Silk Road 2.0 had been born. In November 2013, the new Silk Road 2.0 went online with much fanfare on not just the dark net but the clear net. Obscure blogs all the way to BBC.com was covering the “re-opening” of Silk Road, with much speculation as to who was running the show. In a now infamous cross forum post, Libertas posted “We Rise Again” and SR2.0 was in business. Not without it’s hitches, it was pretty close to the original Silk Road. Causing much embarrassment to law enforcement and to the chagrin of the prosecutors office, the Amazon of Drugs was back.. kind of. Technical glitches, accessibility issues, and paranoia on wether SR2 was an LE “honeypot” ran rampant. But for the most part, it was a coup for the SR2 team. The fear of prosecution of Ross’s original team was largely gone, and the moderators, with much arrogance, continued using their old monikers (which would prove to be their downfall). Of course there were minor goof ups (StExo’s SR1 forum posts being methodically deleted, DPR2 posting with StExo’s PGP key by mistake (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=11.0;topicseen), Libertas revealing in private conversations that Ross had his own doxx), yet as the infamous interview quote went “Ambition has no limit”.

WINTER STORMS

Fast forward to December 2013. The “Return of Silk Road” had been a slap in the face of US LE, and arrogance on the part of the operators who were operating overseas thinking they were outside the long arm of the FBI/DEA/Homeland Security/ICE clashed. With Ross U having saved the doxx of Libertas, Iniggo and SSBD on his confiscated laptop, LE knew it had to send a message. Having access to Ross Ulbricht’s private PGP key, they had access to a multitude of encrypted messages on the Silk Road server, SR forums and even his [email protected] email. Myself having warned the moderators and even DPR2 himself that Ross professed to have their doxx and they should operate with caution having fallen on deaf ears.. the inevitable happened. Simultaneous international busts occurred and Libertas (Gary Davis, served with an arrest warrant while walking to his apartment), SSBD (Peter Nash in Australia picked up inside of his home) and Inigo (Andrew Jones in the boondocks of Virginia, awoken with a knock on his door that his girlfriend answered) were now in LE custody. Cirrus/Scout was left out of the swoop as his doxx were not stored anywhere but in Ross U’s head (who had denied his role as Dread Pirate Roberts) and DPR2 (StExo, while known to LE, but outside the scope & budget of the SR1 investigation) was left untouched. As news made the rounds on Reddit and the SR2 forums, panic ensued. DPR2, spooked from the busts, went dark. Cirrus, under instruction from his boss, posted a half baked message that it was “to be assumed if DPR2 didn’t sign in for over 24 hours, his account was to be considered compromised.” This was StExo’s initial plan, to vanish and let it appear he was also under arrest. However, SR2 being too lucrative an operation (added to the fact that the DOJ published details of it’s arrests and it was clear this round of sweeps were only related to the original Silk Road), StExo came up with a plan.
(as it was reported here intially)

DEF-CONNED

Emerges the mysterious “Defcon”. A self proclaimed behind the scenes admin of the site, who just so happened to have complete access to SR2 servers was born. Knowing that StExo had been playing with fire operating SR2 (as his location and rough geographical location were known to several vendors and LE in the UK) I had a few very frank off-forum conversations with Cirrus. My advise was that the Defcon ruse was a disaster waiting to happen, and it was the wrong play for many reasons. Privately admitting his own suspicions, Cirrus reluctantly acknowledged my assumption that Defcon was none other then StExo/DPR2 himself, a ploy to create a fresh character, twice removed from any connection to SR1.
I reached out to Defcon and expressed my reservations. Elaborately changing his style of talking, Defcon had communicated that he was not DPR2.. save for a few spelling errors that were identical to DPR2. From the forums, “V” and “DoctorClu” emerged as new moderators per Defcon’s edict.

The issue I had with the new arrangement (security wise) was that “V” was a persona created early on by StExo and operated by him (as narrated to me by a moderator), Cirrus was known as Scout from SR1 (whom with block chain analysis wouldn’t be too hard to ascertain the source of his earlier unofficial BTC exchange) DoctorClu was a well known forum persona who had often ordered 30mg oxycodone (“blues” aka “roxies) via SR1 from a prominent SR1 Opiate vendor (which could potentially prove fatal from an OPSEC POV) and from conversations with a few older vendors, all of these would not be hard to unmask if Ross either turned states-witness or writing samples were forensically analyzed. All of these issues were brought up with moderators off-forum as well as with Defcon. Both moderators ChemCat and Cirrus initially endorsed what I was saying on the forum (of course later deleted), was summarized (with other events) by the user Hedgewitch here: http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=10943.msg199058;topicseen#msg199058

Defcon, agreeing that the turn of events were haphazard, agreed that a credible backstory would need to be manufactured. Yes, you read that right – manufactured. Myself and Defcon discussed the concocting of a backstory that involved a nonexistent “contingency plan”, which had DoctorClu and V as “sleeper moderators”. (The full text of the charade with screen shots can be read here)
The moderators were informed by Defcon of the ruse that I was going to post, and they were ordered to not interfere in the posting of this “engineered tale of psy-ops”. It was a long-shot, and slightly believable, but quite a few (including journalists doubted the validity of this tale). Today I confess, indeed, it was totally made-up.
[MISSING – SCREEN SHOT OF DEFCON COMMUNICATION)

I pose you, the reader, this question. If this “contingency plan” was indeed for real, why the need to have Oracle post it? Why would Defcon and the moderators allow it to remain posted on the forum for the entire world to see without interference? If it was “the plan”, then it would have remained tight-lipped, no? Unless the end goal was to convince the general public of Defcon’s legitimacy. It does not take a certified genius to connect the dots. Yes, I was compensated for this effort, and this compensation was what led to a snafu a few days later by Defcon (outlined in the following section) that convinced me something fishy was going on.

I pose some other proof: None of the mods, or Defcon himself refuted my timeline of events. None. In fact, Doctor, in a post that how now been deleted (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=11417.0) even made a comment to the effect of “.. I prefer the term up “backup plan” to “sleeper mod”!” as a joke. Why would he say that if everything Oracle had said was bullshit? Ponder. However, in that same thread (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=11266.30) which is still visible as of May 4th 1:15am EST, Clu jokes again: “After communicating with Defcon plenty and while I should not be posting anything that is communicated between staff, he has confirmed he is indeed a kitten. ”

In fact, the the thread titled “Orace is misinformed and theres several problems with statements of Defcon” (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=11266.0)

And additionally, although all comments of the moderators and Defcon referring to “Oracle’s timeline” as being accurate, some comments of other members remain clearly indicating that mods and even Defcon endorsed my description of events. (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=11416.msg211334#msg211334) An example by Marvin: “Honestly, if Oracle was a fraud then one of the mods or admins would have said so/denied what he’d written/deleted his posts.
But thus far, none of that has occured and in fact mods have agreed with what he’s written.”

Although my posts are gone, one of my key posts was quoted by YourHumbleServant (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=11266.msg208512#msg208512) and Defcon even commented later in that thread.

And of course Mr. Defcon, in the “Oracle is misinformed” thread, says…… nothing! If I was talking out of my ass and making such tall accusations wouldn’t Defcon shoot them down? (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=11266.msg208639#msg208639)

AUDITOR-SCHMAUDITOR!

The events following the initial psy-ops above were my first inkling that all were not well with Silk Road funds. As stated earlier, I was compensated by Defcon for concocting the contingency/sleeper story. To Defcon’s credit, he was a man of his word and paid promptly following my posting of the story. I had given a bitcoin address to be paid to, which received the funds immediately.

Two days later, on Christmas Day 2013, a frantic message from Defcon was received to my original Oracle inbox. This is where your attention is needed. Defcon said that the bitcoin address he had sent me BTC to, if I could check the address for a brand new transaction of 10 BTC or so and to send them back to an address provided. The problem was, I had created a temporary bitcoin QT wallet originally, received the funds, then transferred them out and tumbled them into another wallet. After doing so, I had deleted the Wallet.Dat file of the temporary address, and wiped my HD free space (standard operating procedure to safe-guard from data recovery services). Whoops! I asked Defcon why/how another 10 BTC were sent to the original wallet address?!

What he said was the following (paraphrased):

“DPR2 had hired an auditor thats known only to me and him to keep track of SR2 funds. He noticed the payment I had sent two days ago to that wallet address and accused me of embezzlement. This puts me in a quandary, as I can’t tell him I paid you to concoct a story and used SR2 funds. I lied and told him I was coding a new tumbler for the site and that address was mine, and I was just testing the tumblers output. The auditor didn’t buy it and sent me a nasty message to the effect of “Tumbler eh? I don’t believe you. I’m going to send 10BTC from our funds to that address and if you really control that address like you say you do, you will return the funds. I will not tolerate fucking around with SR funds of any kind”. This puts me in a bad spot, so could you send the 10 btc back? Keep 1 BTC as a reward, but please do send the 10btc back as the auditor is threatening to tell the other mods, and I’ve had enough drama this week”

Think about this for a second. Secret Auditor? Why would there be a secret auditor nobody but Defcon conveniently knew about? And if he noticed a payout to a BTC address, why on earth would he send MORE funds to that same address? The logic was severely flawed. And I truthfully informed Defcon that we had a problem – I didn’t have control of that wallet/address. I had deleted the wallet.dat file! The 10 BTC sent to that address (which really were, as can be seen on the block chain) [Blockchain TX here] were essentially lost in thin air! Defcon said he would just have to take the hit and make up a story to the auditor about having to pay some legacy developer or something to that affect.

Here’s what I think happened: I don’t think there was/is an auditor. I think what happened was that the siphoning/embezzlement of SR funds had already either started, or was being tested out. And “Defcon”, meaning to send the Christmas Day BTC to himself, copied and pasted the wrong wallet address, and sent it to my dummy address by mistake. Uh oh. If one believes the auditor story, then of course my theory is wrong. But if one uses common sense, it becomes clear that the prelude for the bigger heist to come had inadvertently revealed itself.

FROM PRAGUE WITH LOVE/CZECH-MATE

Early February 2014: over 4,000 BTC from Silk Road were stolen. Interestingly, the reason given was the same reason (later debunked) that MtGox BTC were also stolen – transaction malleability. And initially, a rogue vendor named “Norco93” (including his geographic location being in France) was reeled by Defcon. However, many people noted that they never recalled any such vendor. Of course, when much fanfare was made, 0day/Newbie accounts started popping up and saying “yeah I ordered from Norco, he’s real!” and “ohyeah I remember that vendor!” Which was quite perplexing, as many long time vendors and customers found it bizarre they’d never heard of this Norco fellow.

The “theft” made several mainstream publications: (Forbes) (Techcrunch) (DeepDotWeb). Something to the tune of $2.7 million dollars were gone, just like that. And “transaction malleability” was the cause. At first, people believed it. But then, tech-savvy netizens, including core-devs of the bitcoin protocol took to IRC, Reddit, and BitcoinTalk Forums and debunked this as a possible cause (Reddit)

I may not be the most tech savvy guy/gal out there, but I can tell you that TX Malleability was not the reason for the theft. How do I know? You guessed it, I helped write the “story” that was later fed to the SR community.

For reference, you may first read this.
I posted a lengthy “doxxing” of the “thief” on the SR forums and, this post was allowed to stay visible long enough to spread through the blogsophere and Reddit. The alleged culprit was “Pritel”, a Czech hacker/coder who had once been a contract developer hired in the early days of SR who had used some of the same code-base as MtGox. This fit perfectly. MtGox claimed TX Malleability caused its theft, so SR, since an early developer had used stolen MtGox code to work on the site was subject to the same kind of theft. Right? Wrong.

DPR2 (who was still active) responded to a message I had sent to him. In my message, I expressed dissatisfaction that Defcon had used the TX Malleability (a theory that I floated in a message to Defcon the night before) without having the courtesy to respond back. DPR2 however responded back and sympathized. In fact, he had told me that he was hot on the trail of the real thief and had leads, but in the mean time, the community needed to be placated as they were up in arms with accusations of an inside-job, and asked if I had any input. Since I (Oracle) already had credibility as a well informed insider, I suggested I could use my reputation and post an explanation that would calm the community. DPR2/StExo’s justification for writing a fictitious account of the hack was an analogy he used to the movie Batman Returns, where Bruce Wayne takes the blame for Harvey Dent’s crimes to keep Gotham City from an uprising. I didn’t quite buy it, but admittedly, the offer of compensation was put on the table and I admit, I agreed.. as would most people in my situation.

Pause and think about this for a minute. Why on earth pay me to write a detailed story about the theft? Unless….
Exactly.

An interesting aside: DoctorClu in private conversations both through TorChat (which his handle he referred to as “sacrosanct” for security.. therefore will not be revealed here) and Safe-Mail expressed a tacit admission that the “inside job” was a reality though not something he was willing to admit, it was something he’d rather not face because the truth would be a bitter pill to swallow. And Clu knows a thing or two about pills!

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The way we came up with the Czech hacker/developer/Pritel story was as follows:

DPR2/Stexo commissioned me for another round of propoganda to assist in throwing the community off (as referenced earlier) for the “greater good”. His claim was that he was running a parallel investigation to the find the real culprits.. yet in the mean time the masses needed to be quelled. Sure. I asked no questions as I was paid a standard fee for PR. Yes.. shameful, I know. But ask yourself, who wouldn’t?

My “suggestion” was that since transaction malleability in and of itself was just not going to fly, as developers and others versed in BTC had debunked this as a plausible technical explanation for the MtGox theft.. they started weighing in on the Silk Road heist as well – denouncing this theory. So I suggested a more tailored version. I told StExo/DPR2 that the following scenario “made more sense”:

Since the Sheep Market hack was done by the Czech operator, lots of shadiness emanated from the Czech Republic. So, what if I concoct a story of a contract developer from the early days of SR2, who was brought in on StExo’s recommendations as he had offered money laundering advice to them. The Czech’s had offered to sell StExo some stolen code from MtGox which were making the rounds on the black market, yet he had no need for such code. However, when SR2 was being formed, he recommended this Czech developer to Libertas, who in turn recommended him to the new setup. This worked because Libertas was incarcerated and incommunicado, and certainly not in a position to log on the forums and refute this. Also, the Czech would be familiar to whatever vulnerabilities might have existed in SR2’s server code (since he implemented parts of it by re-using Gox code). He saw the Gox “theft” making headlines, and decided to strike. DPR2 liked this idea, he said it made sense. We needed a name. DPR2 and myself, on chat, searched for Czech names/words online and tossed a few around until we found one: “Pritel”. It was ambiguous enough, had some actual meaning etymology wise, and sounded like a typical hacker handle. Ok, now we have a name. What next? I suggested to StExo that I (Oracle), “doxx” this thief on the forums. He agreed and said he’d see to it that the doxx would stay up long enough (no interference from moderators) long enough for it to get replicated on Reddit and the blogs. To StExo’s credit, he said that a proper doxxing would need an address as well. So he searched for apartment complexes in Prague, found one that had empty flats, and changed around a flat number. (Rationale being that he didn’t want some innocent tenant harrased by anyone who might get the bright idea to pay the “thief” a visit). If you Google the exact Pritel doxx (which were allowed to stay for an unprecended time, you’ll see that the address listed as vacant.).Then we searched for Czech baby names and cobbled together an imagined first and last name. Now, all was left was the “doxxing of the SR hacker”. The post had the EXACT following text (for those who forgot): Go ahead, try to find that address in Google/DuckDuckGo. It doesn’t exist:

*Mods please do not delete this, I donít give a fuck about anti-doxxing policies and Iíve worked very hard, paid out of my pocket and have open myself to exposure to put this thieving fuck on blast*

Everyone else: quote and take a screen shot immediately incase this gets taken down

Hey Premysl, hows it feel reading this? Panicky? I wonít ask you or enter a dialogue Premmy, but Iím going to insist you contact Defcon or one of the moderators and arrange to pay back the money. Or ask them for an address and if by magic the funds show up, youíll probably live out the rest of your life relatively healthy. If not.. thereís people whoís money youíve taken who will probably make you wish you were in hell. Understood Prems? Fuck you and your ratfuck thievery.

I’m going to keep this short. Stexo had given laundering advice to some Czechs during SR1, who were also shopping around code they ìclaimedî to have breached or obtained from Gox and Btc-E. Donít know if theyíre legitimate devs or just malicious fucks, and itís irrelevant at this point. SR2ís initial back end and engine was coded by one of these guys on contract, ìPritelî. Libby had thought it would be useful to farm out some of the initial development of SR2 to one of the czech devs and asked fucking stexo to make an introduction. Lib introduced Pritel to Defcon in October, and he did whatever initial development he was paid for. Before the site went live his contract was up and Defcon and party took control of the admin stuff. Most likely this is the reason for the initial spotty site access in the initial days – Def just didnít understand a lot of the code and kept fucking around with it.

A VERY reliable source has confirmed to me unequivocally that Pritel (PREMYSL LUKAS) has been bragging that he hit Bitstamp, SR, and Gox with DDoS, flooded them with mutated transactions, and even made a fortune. TL;DR – czech former contractor used the transaction malleability media hoopla (WHICH CAN NOT BE USED TO STEAL COINS) as a cloak to break in and steal. His initial development work probably worked as an advantage, or he kept a clone of the security methods, I donít know – but PREMYSL LUKAS is now THOUSANDS OF BTC RICHER THEN HE WAS A WEEK AGO.

Libertas should NOT have recommended this piece of shit solely because they were previous clients of stexoís. And stexo is not an authority on developers or computer security just because he once advised him and his merry band of czech bottom feeders on how to launder their BTC.

All of this initial incompetence brings us to a hack/heist of millions of dollars. Un fucking believable, and un fucking acceptable.

I’ve tried my best to present as much facts as I could obtain, and believe me I have spent my own time, energy and funds getting this information and putting the pieces together. IF THIS POST IS DELETED, I will REPOST IT FROM DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY AD NAUSEUM.

Anybody in Prague or around this area.. I canít advise you on what to do, but..use your imagination.

Oracle

I sent StExo a draft, he revised it a bit, and I had a green light. Even though SR2 forums have a strict “anti doxxing policy” (even in the case of the lifelong troll Coachella), curiously enough my post was left online for hours. The moderators were told to stand down and not interfere/edit/delete the post. For those who remember.. the post stayed online for hours, long enough to be replicated several times over. In no instance in SR or SR2 history would a doxxing be allowed to remain unmolested without orders from the highest authority. (Curiously, Defcon was MIA during this entire debacle. Almost like a Clark Kent/Superman situation. Never in the same place at the same time.. heh) [MISSING – QUICK TIME VID GRAB]

Some of you may remember that immediately after the doxx post, forum members found it impossible to send each other encrypted PM’s. This was no bug or error in the SMF software – this was intentional done with the intent of gauging private reaction and interfering with those who were communicating via PGP. Smart move on his part, I might add. The rest, as we say, is history. Blogs, reddit, social media and even main stream press picked up the story of the “SR2 Hacker Doxxed!”.
I must admit with great shame, there was no Pritel, there was no Czech contract developer, there was no doxxing.

And of course, as in December, not a word of what I said was refuted by any admin or mod. And people noticed this as well, commenting several times that Oracle’s revelations seems to be green-lit from the highest echelons.. therefore he must either be right/informed, an admin/mod shill, or paid hype man.

An interesting thought: in the immediate aftermath of the doxx post, Pritels name and address were edited out a few hours later (no by me). DrClu contacted me off-forum and his exact question was “What the fuck is going on? Did you doxx Stex?!” My theory on this is that he was away from the forums when it went down, came back to all hell breaking loose, saw he couldn’t send encrypted PM’s (and he mentioned himself that this was something only the boss make happen). I told him no, I did not do that, I doxxed the “real hacker”. From that exchange, I do firmly believe that Clu most likely wasn’t involved in this plan at all. Conceited? Yes. Thief? No. Complacent? Yes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, why bother coming forward about these revelations? Thats a fair point any logical reader might wonder. Is this another attempt at dis-information/propaganda at someones behest? Vested interests put me up to this? Did I have a falling out with the SR2 team? These are all questions you’re asking yourselves. As I write this, I often think back to some of the clear signs that my own moral compass was compromised – thats a personal failing of mine that will weigh on my conscience a long, long time. And there we have the word driving this entire ‘exposee’. Conscience. That’s right. My conscience has been at odds for weeks now of what I was involved in, both the initial coverup in November, the DPR2 coverup in December, and then the fake Czech hacker coverup in February. Due to some personal events in my life I’ve lately my outlook has changed. I’ve gotten a jolt of reality. What matters, what doesn’t, what’s right, what’s wrong.. they’ve all come into perspective. Yes I took payoffs, yes I took bribes. I thought I was performing “PR Services” and was being compensated, but in retrospect.. that’s just self justification. I sold myself and my dignity for a few BTC, and for that, I am embarrased.

While I think the staff of SR2 are probably a harmless group of guys (much like the SR1 staff were) who are just trying to do their job, I do believe them to be complacent in furthering the agenda of a mind much sharper then theres. While DPR2/StExo is confirmed, I am hesitant to say for surity that Defcon is an alter ego as well. My gut says so, and if it wasn’t so then what was the point of the entire December psy-ops I was commissioned for? But again, that can’t be proven, and even in private conversations with both Defcon and StExo they’ve referred to each other in the 3rd person without fail. There was one instance where DPR2 had mentioned something in February to me that I had discussed with only Defcon in December.. which I believe to be a slip of an exhausted mind. But again, that could be a coincidence…

People need to wake up. The writing has always been on the wall that things were amiss. Claims of admin/mod collusion with scamming vendors? Can this be PROVEN? Perhaps no, but circumstantial evidence goes a long long way. For example, when OxyFlight was scamming people for thousands, DPR2/Stexo went out of his way to placate people that OxyFlight was legitimate. Has he vouched for any other vendor? See for yourself: (http://silkroad5v7dywlc.onion/index.php?topic=1323.msg24727#msg24727) Yet a few weeks later, after bilking customers to the tune of $10,00+, OxyFlight posts a bizarre message about joining a cartel and going on permanent vacation?!

The community had cried foul since the beginning, yet the Silk Road brand was held in such high esteem that people turned a blind eye. Unfortunately, that’s still the case. This “repayment plan” SR2 has initiated. Has any one large vendor or holder of BTC who was fleeced claimed to have been repaid in full? Think about it. Ask around.

While people might say “So you were lying then. How do we know you’re not lying now?” Thats fair enough, and thats rather simple. Every-time I came out of the woodwork, it was in time of crisis to do some damage control. Whats the crisis this time? None. Nothing. People have lost faith in SR2, but that’s been a slow decline. This isn’t a spin job as I’ve been recruited for in the past. And then the most obvious. If I’m making all this up, why wasn’t a word of anything I said (i.e my big revelations) ever refuted or referred to as trolling by the SR2 team? In fact, in many instances they publicly thanked me for my help and role and essentially endorsed my comments. While my posts have all mysteriously disappeared, other people quoting me in replies have not (as seen in above screen shots), and that alone should speak volumes.

While I’m sure the SR2 team will make every attempt to discredit me and deny most everything here, this is for the reader to judge. Do I make sense? Does your gut say Im telling the truth? Thought so.

Wake up DeepWeb, realize that the Silk Road brand is dead. Realize that every other market has some kind of scam of scheme being perpetrated by either the operators, moderator Prems, vendors or a combination of collusion amongst the above. Marketplaces are no longer being run by men with some form integrity. They’re being run as get rich quick schemes. And more importantly, allowing your money to be stolen, allowing your intelligence to be insulted, allowing your security to be compromised is in your own hands. Multi-sigs, decentralized, stick with trusted vendors, etc, whatever.. this is all up to you. But history repeats itself. And theres two things, only two things that you should learn from history: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and always trust your gut.

Oh, and here’s a final tidbit of…… [ends – will be added if a full version is ever released]

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7 comments

Thnx for the extensive update, very was well done. The Feds are bragging, “this was one for the history books for cyber crime.” I would agree, but could live without their arrogant boasting. They’re obviously still blind to it all. Bitcoin will obviously bounce back and even prosper form it all, I bet. It’s a big case of “fuck what you’ve heard.” History has shown us that time heals everything, so stay tuned, you know…

Alternatively whoever in the department took over the “deep web investigation team”, but my bitcoins on Der-Yeghiayan since we know we ran Cirrus. Someone do the investigation Cirrus’ into his “bitcoin exchange” past.

Alternatively whoever in the department took over the “deep web investigation team”, but my bitcoins on Der-Yeghiayan since we know he ran Cirrus. Someone do the investigating Cirrus’ into his “bitcoin exchange” past.*